Lo! where the sage, by list'ning crowds rever'd, Whose well-earn'd honours grateful science paid, And chiefs whose prowess steel-clad legions fear'd, Repose alike in death's oblivious shade.

No victor's shout, no soothing voice of fame,
Shall pierce the gloomy caverns of the ground;
But darkness there her silent empire claim,
Till nature hear the trump celestial sound.

And is it thus the various ranks of men,

The mean, the wise, the tyrant, and the slave, Whate'er thro' devious life their paths had been, All meet at last, associates in the grave?

Then why shou'd pen'ry mourn her lowly birth,
Or titl❜d pride assume the brow of scorn
From life's last scene, since all but moral worth
Flies like night visions at the song of morn?

Hence let ambition's vot'ries fondly dream

Of wealth's heap'd treasures, and the dome of state, At honour's shrine indulge the airy scheme, Or crowd obsequious round preferment's gate.

Be rather mine, to bend in Virtue's fane,
Her cares, her duties, and her joys to know;
The sigh of want to hear, the shriek of pain,
And with compassion's gen'rous warmth to glow.

Be mine, Religion, of thy hope possess'd,
Tranquil to finish life's eventful hour,
My mem❜ry dear to some congenial breast,
My sod by Friendship strew'd with many a flow'r.

County Magazine.

SWEETNESS.

AN ODE.

Or damask cheeks, and radiant eyes,

Let other poets tell;

Within the bosom of the fair

Superior beauties dwell.

There all the sprightly powers of wit

In blithe assemblage play;
There ev'ry social virtue sheds

Its intellectual ray.

But as the sun's refulgent light

Heaven's wide expanse refines,

With sov'reign lustre through the soul
Celestial Sweetness shines.

This mental beam dilates the heart,
And sparkles in the face;
It harmonizes ev'ry thought,
And heightens ev'ry grace.

One glimpse can sooth the troubled breast,

The heaving sigh restrain;

Can make the bed of sickness please,
And stop the sense of pain.

Its

power can charm the savage heart, The tyrant's pity move;

To smiles convert the wildest rage,

And melt the soul to love.

When Sweetness beams upon the throne In Majesty benign,

The awful splendours of a crown

With milder lustre shine.

In scenes of poverty and woe,
Where melancholy dwells,
The influence of this living ray

The dreary gloom dispels.

Thus, when the blooming spring returns
To cheer the mournful plains,

Through earth and air, with genial warmth,

Etherial mildness reigns.

Beneath its bright, auspicious beams,

No boist'rous passions rise;

Moroseness quits the peaceful scene,

And baleful discord flies.

A thousand nameless beauties spring,
A thousand virtues glow;

A smiling train of joys appear,
And endless blessings flow.

Unbounded Charity displays

Her sympathizing charms;
And Friendship's pure seraphic flame
The gen'rous bosom warms.

Almighty Love exerts his power,
And spreads with secret art
A soft sensation through the frame,
And transport through the heart.

Nor shall the storms of Age, which cloud
Each gleam of heart-felt joy,
And blast the gaudy flower's pride,
These blest effects destroy.

When that fair form shall sink in years,

And all those graces fly;

The beauty of thy heav'nly mind

Shall length of days defy.

Robertson.

VERSES

To a Young Lady at the door of her carriage in Hyde Park.

WILT thou, wilt thou really fly
From vanity and folly,

And quit their pomp without a sigh,
My own dear Dolly?

And wilt thou, wilt thou then forsake
What all the world's admiring,
Old men their last-lov'd object make,
And young grow old acquiring?

From out this gaudy harness'd coach
Wilt thou step gently down?
To meet thy lover's meek approach,
Break through the gazing town?

And to the silent valley move
With me, and melancholy;
There live and die in lonely love,
My own dear Dolly?

Skene.